VMware Communities: Message List - vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:07:42 GMT

Until I added back the line to the *.vmx file that disables drag-and-drop, yes I had the 100% CPU problem.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:37:49 GMT

Any update? Do you still have the cpu 100% issue?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:00:06 GMT

Thanks for the suggestions. What I finally did (before your response and after many failed regedit hacks) was resort to using the Windows system restore, which happily was ready to restore to just before I removed VMWare tools. That was the first time in all the years I've been using Windows that I've ever used system restore. Despite what I originally thought was oddness with the display resolutions, it's my suspicion that Kaspersky (7.0.1.325) was the source of the conflict after removing VMWare Tools. I, however, am not going to verify that - I've had quite enough downtime already.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:57:23 GMT

Can you open the command console window? If you can, please try this:

1. Click "Install VMware tools" on Fusion menu

2. Click into guest, open command console window

3. Tyep in "d:" (if the cdrom for Tools installation is d:)

4. Type in

setup /s /v "/qn"

The tools will be automatically installed and your VM will be automatically rebooted after a while (5-20 minutes)

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:23:08 GMT

I checked on tools and the version and build matched (2.0.5, 173382). Just to be safe, however, I decided to do (attempt?) a clean reinstall of VMWare Tools. Now I'm really in need of help as it appears that the VM is now in a completely unusable state.

First, I did an uninstall of tools using Modify/Remove Programs in XP and then restarted the VM. XP starts back up and presents me with my login prompt. After login, I get what appears to be a small part of my blank XP desktop in the VM window. In other words, I cannot see or access the Windows task bar or any of the icons on my XP desktop. Right-clicking (or control-clicking) in the VM gives me no XP contextual menus. Sending Ctrl-Alt-Delete appears to do nothing. Selecting Install VMWare Tools appears to do nothing. The only thing that has any effect is sending Shut Down Guest or Restart Guest from the Virtual Machine menu, which gets me back this same state. This is the case regardless of whether I'm in full screen or single window view.

It seems that VMWare thinks I'm running 640x480 while my Windows XP VM, however, seems to think it's a much higher resolution and everything I need is off the visible screen area. I can restart the VM in Safe Mode and access my desktop/task bar/etc, but then I of course cannot install tools. I've changed the display settings in safe mode to 800x600 (and made them actually happen by using the Advanced mode button), but the changed settings apparently don't stick on a non safe mode restart; I just end up back with a screen where I can't see/access anything. Any ideas/suggestion?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jmendo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:50:41 GMT

Just double checking that after you upgraded to 2.0.5, you also upgraded tools and restarted the VM?

Thanks,
-jesse

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:46:35 GMT

The problem is still not solved in 2.0.5.

Shut down my XP virtual machine, upgraded to 2.0.5 (173382), removed the previously suggested line (isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "TRUE") from my vmx file, and restarted my VM. Dragged some files into/out of VM windows in Unity mode and almost immediately had vmwareuser.exe at 100% just like every release since the betas of 2.0.

MacBook Pro 15" running 10.5.7 (2.6GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM). Using an external monitor (30" 2560x1600) in addition to the MacBook screen. VM using 2 virtual processors, 1536MB, not accelerating 3D graphics, no mirrored folders, sharing one folder from my Mac to the VM, not allowing Mac to open VM apps, allowing VM to open Mac apps, network bridged.

Back to disabling drag-and-drop again...

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:03:27 GMT

I have had DnD disabled for a few weeks now and I haven't seen the 100% CPU issue so as far as my set up goes, disabling DnD fixes the issue.

I do have another issue though which may/may not be related.
I'm running the latest version of Leopard and Fusion but no matter what I try I cannot get Fusion to start my Windows XP virtual machine in Unity mode. Reading online it appears I should be able to do this. I have added IE to my dock but when I click on it the VM starts up but always remains in a Window! Anyone any ideas?

Thanks

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

elance5 — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:08:13 GMT

Synopsis:

VmwareUser.exe shows constant 100% busy using Vmware Fusion 2.02 (147997). Copy/paste between host/guest continues to operate correctly, however.
This appears to be a reoccurrence of earlier issues identified in this thread.
I have a 26MB dump of running 98% busy vmwareuser.exe I can upload if desired; please provide instructions if so.

Details:

Apple Macbook Pro 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM, running 10.5.6 with all updates installed as of 2009-03-29.
Guest Instance: Windows XP Pro 2002 SP3 with all critical updates, derived from a previous native XP installation on an HP laptop.
Unity was not enabled and had not been used since last boot. System had been switched between networks, laptop lid closed/opened successfully numerous times.
There may be something network related but I'm not sure, it may be coincidental. If so, sorry for the network-related info in this post.

Just prior to the observation I had canceled/closed a timed-out Juniper VPN client app from within the Windows guest (see previous Fusion community post "vmnet-natd constant 100% busy" for other details). Windows apps (eg. Outlook) complained about lost/disconnected network connections and I closed them to install a Windows Update previously downloaded by Windows. FYI Fusion is set for "NAT" mode.

The 100% busy vmwareuser.exe problem was observed immediately after allowing Windows Update to install Malicious Software Removal Tool (2009-03-29), with no other programs running. The Windows Update would not complete installation (but claimed it had completed its download; probably much earlier) and eventually needed to be canceled. There seemed to be something hung up in the updater because the cancellation hung indefinitely, until after switching windows/contexts (alt-tab, command-tab, starting/closing other apps, etc??) numerous times. Finally clicking the updater window again, appeared to break the cancellation loose, allowing it to immediately finish and close the updater window. Huh.

All subsequent attempts to access the network from within the guest failed, tho the network was accessible from OSX.

VmwareUser.exe continued to run at 100% busy thereafter.

Via the host OS I downloaded the Windows userdump.exe utility from Microsoft, copied it onto the running guest via a shared folder, and installed it. Ran "userdump.exe <PID>" on the 98% busy VmwareUser.exe PID. I have the dump file, which apparently can be analyzed with windbg.exe or other similar tools, and am glad to upload it if desired; it is 26.6MB after compression with "gzip -9" .

I then successfully used Task Manager to end the VMWareUser.exe process. CPU usage went to near zero.

I attempted to reestablish network connection within the guest, first by disabling/reenabling the network in the Fusion tray, then disabling in fusion AND Windows. Both succeeded but neither helped. Windows showed the network cable disconnected/reconnected each time. Then I disabled the network only within Windows with Fusion's network still active; things got sideways. Windows icons showed the network enabled/connected while menus showed it disabled. All subsequent attempts to disable/enable the network connection failed in Windows. Network Connection>Properties looked fine; saving the dialog caused the Network Connex icon to show "disabled" and the menus had "enable" grayed out. Couldn't find any way around this.

Rebooted the guest OS. VMWareUser.exe was fine, tho the network was still inaccessible from within the guest (network connex look fine tho). Rebooted the guest OS and also restarted Fusion. DNS seems to resolve but data transfers fail. Disabling/enabing Windows networks appears successful but still cannot access the network. Disabling/enabling Network in Fusion Tray works and is acknowledged by Windows, but no love. Will boot host OSX next.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

coppit — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:48:56 GMT

I made this change and confirmed that DnD is disabled. Today my CPU spiked to 100% and stayed there, so DnD is not the only cause, and may not be a cause at all. I run in coherence mode all the time. Others have said that they only see this in coherence mode.

Let me know what else I can test for you.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Yosh21 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:35:47 GMT

That worked. It's like an old VMS library file.

I've made the change you suggested and I'll try Unity again.

Thanks,
Tom

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:54:20 GMT

If you right click on file user/documents/virtual machines/Windows XP Home edition.vmwarevm, there should be 2 possible options. Either open it with another application, or open the package. I forgot the details, but with open the package, you should see lots of files for the VM. Windows XP Home edition.vmx should be the one you are looking for.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Yosh21 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:03:05 GMT

The only VMWARE files I can find are the VMWARE Fusion.app file in the applications folder and the user/documents/virtual machines/Windows XP Home edition.vmwarevm.

That's it. Where else should I look?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:16:27 GMT

The "VM" folder is the folder on Mac host where you put all virtual machine files, something like /Users/aaa/VMs/WinXP. The "VMX" is the setting file for the virtual machine. Inside this file you can specify some VM properties, like enable/disable DnD. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Yosh21 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:09:19 GMT

Where is the "VM" folder?

What is the "VMX" file?

Thanks,
Tom

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:32:07 GMT

We actually tried a lot of different setups, but still can not reproduce it in house. But we strongly suspect that something wrong with DnD or multimon. Actually there is a way to disable the DnD and may solve the problem but without DnD. To disable DnD,

1. Power off or suspend the VM.

1. Go to the VM directory and open vmx file

3. Add this line in the end: isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "TRUE"

4. Power on the VM or resume the VM.

In this way the DnD should be disable. And if this problem is caused by DnD, you should not hit it again. Please let us know if this can bypass the bug.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:49:39 GMT

The problem does only occur in Unity, whether shared folders are on or off.
I have also gone back to using Fusion in full screen mode and all the 100% CPU problems have gone.
I think VMWare have more than enough info on this problem and can recreate it themselves so hopefully they'll sort it soon. Using Unity with 2 screens is very useful but at the moment I can live with XP on one screen and Leopard on the other.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

coppit — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:41:48 GMT

I take it back. Apparently I just wasn't using the VM enough. I was using it pretty heavily the last couple of days and saw the problem (again).

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

frases — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:15:32 GMT

As well, I have learned to live without Unity. I'm sticking with VMware, as my virtual infrastructure at work is all VMware based and it is easier to migrate VMs to my MacBook when necessary. Oh well.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Yosh21 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:53:07 GMT

Whenever I use Unity, my CPU eventually pegs at 100% from vmwareuser.exe and my system becomes unusable.

VMWARE has been unable, or unwilling, to fix this problem so my fix is not to use Unity.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:17:40 GMT

Even worse, VMWare charges for any kind of support , even via e-mail. This is their bug and they should fix it. I reported this eons ago, and they claimed they had found the problem, but it never got fixed. And they do not list my VPN issue in the "known problems" section of the release notes.

I switched back to Parallels. It is a much better deal. They give you the free Kaspersky security Suite, the Acronis disk manager and backup tools, and FREE support that is actually responsive. I can also use up to 8 CPUs.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:20:57 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion re 2.0.2, but I've been using it since the day it came out and I still encounter the problem multiple times daily if I use Unity.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

coppit — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:18:34 GMT

Have you tried the 2.0.2 that was just released? I noticed in the release notes some comments about fixing bugs related to CPU consumption. They mentioned coherence mode, transferring files between guest and host, etc. -- all of which seemed to be related to this problem for me. After I installed it I turned sharing of "My Documents" back on and so far I haven't had a problem (a week or so).

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:01:57 GMT

I've tried every suggestion in this and other similar threads, but other than resorting to full screen mode, I always encounter this debilitating bug. As this has existed since the first betas of 2.0 and has yet to be fixed, I have to say I'm very disappointed. At this point, being the "long time Mac user" amongst several people who have switched, are switching, or are planning to switch to Macs, I've had to point them all to Parallels.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:00:57 GMT

I tried today with my setup, and can partially reproduce the bug. When I drag some files over IE7 in Mac screen I noticed that some area is high-lighted, which is weird, and may cause problem. But I never see VMwareUser took 100% CPU. I guess what happened here is that when you drag some files over IE7, we take it as a host->guest DnD, and will do some mouse simulation inside guest. But for some unknown reason in dual-screen mode we updated the mouse in wrong places, and VMwareUser may be confused with wrong mouse updates. So I think the workaround is that if you only do host DnD, try not to drag over any guest Unity window. Also can not confirm if you can reproduce the bug by dragging some files over any Unity Window?

We will do more investigation about mouse update in dual-screen mode and try to get a fix. Thanks for your feedback.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:01:51 GMT

You said you had found the bug:

Based on your Support Request, we tested your problem description in our lab. After detailed analysis, we believe we have identified a 'bug' with the software. We are unable to provide you with an immediate solution at this time and there is no workaround feasible for this current release. And it has only gotten worse with succeeding releases. I must still use the 2.0RC.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:10:02 GMT

I think we have difficulty to reproduce the bug. One of our QA spent almost 1 day with several setups and still unable to reproduce. I said this just to let you know that we did not ignore the SR, but please understand that it is not an easy one.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:31:11 GMT

How about fixing SR# 1139197970? You acknowledged that it was a real bug. It pins my cpu to 100% if I turn on my Cisco VPN. Yet this has not been fixed, and it is not listed on the latest release notes "known issues". Something is very rotten in the VM.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:31:08 GMT

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:20:31 GMT

Can I just add that Shared Folders isn't the only cause of the problem.

I have been running for about 4 hours today with Shared Folders switched off and the 100% CPU has just surfaced again!

I am now going to try using Unity with the 'Show running virtual machine applications in the Dock' set to Never (it was set to In Unity this morning when the problem happened).

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:24:47 GMT

Thanks very much for your detailed description. I will try to reproduce it sometime tomorrow when Iam back to office. And if you got time, can you do more test? I think the reason is that when you drag something over the Unity window, our internal DnD is triggered, but does not do cleanup gracefully enough. So can you try this? If you DnD the file carefully enough not to hit the IE7 window at all, can you still reproduce the bug? With other Unity window can you still reproduce the bug? I guess any Unity window will trigger the bug. Also if you put all window into iMac screen, can you still reproduce the bug? Your feedback and help is highly appreciated. I will keep you updated with my investigation.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

frases — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:34:57 GMT

Guys,

I had the same problem. On my MacBook Pro 17" (dual core 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM) running OSX 10.5.6, I was running an XP SP2 VM running one processor under Fusion 2.0.2. The one dedicated CPU would spike to 100% and my mouse disappeared. Thus, I had to control XP via the keyboard, always an exciting task. Of course, the display was really sluggish as others have reported. I did try the reinstall of VMware Tools, but that didn't work. Two things in conjunction did work:

1) under Settings -> Sharing -> Shared Applications, I disabled "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine"

2) in the same dialog box, select "Never" for "Show running virtual machine applications in the dock"

Update 2009/02/16: Shutdown your vm and restart Fusion to make sure the changes are effective.

Update 2009/02/18: I should clarify that my MacBook was upgraded to OSX 10.5 Leopard recently. I believe the DVD upgraded it to 10.5.4, and then I did another interim upgrade via Internet download to 10.5.6.

When you read the list of caveats in the VMware Fusion Release Notes, it is quite a litany of troubles. I guess this is where complexity gets us..too many combinations of guest and host OS versions for the company to adequately QA their products.

'sodo

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:44:57 GMT

1. It is the VMwareUser.exe that takes 100% of CPU.

2. Yes, I don't have a problem when in full screen mode, only when running Unity on my dual screen iMac.

3. In Finder on the Mac I created a folder within my Documents folder called 'SharedFolder' (so /Users/xxxx/Documents/SharedFolder) I then share this folder 'SharedFolder' from my Mac with the Virtual Machine on the Sharing tab of the VM Settings. I DO NOT mirror any folders at all.

In Finder on the Mac I drag my 'SharedFolder' to my dock so I have easy access to it. I can then drag n drop any files I want to see within Windows to my 'SharedFolder' in my Macs doc.

One thing which may affect it??? I have the Windows taskbar on my external screen when running in Unity and my dock on my iMac screen - not sure if that would make any difference.

Also, I just tried to re-create the problem again and it looks like I also have to open Internet Explorer and have that on the iMac screen too in order for the 100% CPU.

So, iMac screen plus external screen - Windows in Unity mode running with taskbar on external screen - Mac dock on iMac screen. Open IE7 and move that to iMac screen - drag n drop a file into SharedFolder in the dock then 100%CPU issue occurs!

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:26:33 GMT

Thanks for the log files. From log file I did not see anything wrong, so can you provide more information?

1. Please check inside the guest which application took 100% cpu. Is it VMwareUser.exe?

2. All what you did were in Unity mode, right?

3. Can you explain more about 'Shared Folder' which is in my Documents on Mac side in my dock? This 'Shared Folde' is inside the guest, and it is a Windows folde? Or it is in host side and it is a Mac folder? How you create the link on Mac dock? By dragging the 'Shared Folder' into Mac dock? Where is original 'Shared Folder' located?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:50:51 GMT

Logs have been emailed.

I screen grab in Leopard using CMD+SHIFT+4 which creates a file on the desktop. I then drag that file into the shared folder within Mac which has a link in my dock (ie. I've put 'Shared Folder' which is in my Documents on Mac side in my dock - I then drag the file from the desktop onto 'Shared Folder' on the dock - this seems to trigger the 100% CPU). I can then access that shared folder from within Windows to use the screen grab.

I hope that makes more sense.

I think it does it for all files, it's just I do screen grabs quite a bit.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:37:33 GMT

Can you email the log file to lingli@vmware.com? If they are not huge files, can you email me all 4 files? Thanks

Also I am not quite sure about your description. Which side you took the screen grab? Host side or guest side? You first saved it into local disk? The shared VM Shared Folder is another guest Unity window? You drop into the Unity window itself or dock icon?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:24:51 GMT

Further information if anyone is still listening....

This problem only seems to occur for me when I run Unity with Shared Folders and when I drag n drop a file from Mac to a shared folder. Using shared folders in full screen mode works fine.

I have now stopped using shared folders and am now accessing an AirDisk from Mac and Windows in order to share files. So far (fingers crossed) this setup has now stopped the 100% CPU annoyance.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:58:18 GMT

I have the log files, do you have an email address at vmware I can send them to rather than uploading them here for everyone to see? Or I can cut n paste any you wish me to searchfor within them?

Also, which ones do you want it seems to have created 4 files, vmtools.txt, vmtools.log.1952, vmtools.log.2024, vmtools.log.old

I can recreate the problem now at will, here's how you can re-create it (hopefully).

I have an iMac with an external 2nd screen. I open up the Windows XP SP3 VM on the external screen in full-screen mode, I then hit CRTL+CMD+U to switch to Unity mode. I open up IE7 and move it to the internal iMac screen. Then hit CMD+SHIFT+4 to take a screen grab and then drag n drop the screen grab into a shared VM Shared Folder that I have in my Mac dock - THEN we get 100% CPU.I have NO mirrored folders just a single shared folder. I am running the latest just released version of Fusion 2.0.2 and Leopard 10.5.6.

I'm not sure if you need to do all that to re-create the issue but if I do if deffo happens again.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:29:46 GMT

I've tried what the last poster suggested and it doesn't fix the problem for me when in Unity on a dual screen iMac.

And, I don't have a C:\Documents
and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools folder
within my VM and therefore don't have a tools.conf file to open. (ignore this, found it, t'was hidden!)

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:42:38 GMT

Thanks for feedback. I guess maybe VMwareUser inside the
guest un-registered all callbacks. Can you follow the instruction to
collect guest log?

To do that go to:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools, Then open the tools.conf file.

Add two entries:
log = "TRUE"
log.file = "C:\vmtools.log"

Then log out and log back in to your VM Wait for vmwareuser.exe to start using 100% of your cpu and upload the resulting log
files. There should be one at c:\vmtools.log and possibly more than one
at c:\vmtools.log.<process id> where process id is just a number.

Once you are done, make sure to turn off logging by removing the two entries because they can take up a lot of space over time.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:42:07 GMT

Once you are done, make sure to turn off logging by removing the two entries because they can take up a lot of space over time.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JeFurry — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:06:11 GMT

I concur that it happens only in Unity. I also have multiple screens - one 30" surrounded by 2 21" screens in portrait mode on a separate graphics card. This exceeds the maximum hardware-accelerated texture size, and VMWare Fusion should therefore be using software rendering... but I have turned off "Use all displays in fullscreen" and it seems happy to use what seems to be full speed on the central display in fullscreen mode.

I upgraded to 2.02, and turned off all folder sharing and mirrored folders completely, and also deactivated "allow your mac to open applications in the virtual machine", and switched back to Unity.

The vmwareuser.exe 100% CPU problem has not happened to me in the six or so hours of use I've had since then, whereas it used to happen after about fifteen minutes of Unity usage (I'd given up on Unity as a consequence). It's early days yet, but something appears to have at least improved, if not been fixed properly.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:34:27 GMT

I've figured out this only happens in Unity (and I span 2 screens).

And V2.0.2 has not fixed the issue.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

KenMAMLLC — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:53:20 GMT

Thanks for the note! However, I did NOT set it up to share the folders -- I was going to start by simply continuing to access the files on the Mac the same way I had been doing with version 1.1.3. Hopefully that is another clue to VMWare as to what might or might not be causing the problem.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

coppit — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:10:41 GMT

The thing that helped for me was disabling the sharing of "My Documents". It had started happening after my Documents folder on the Mac side had gotten pretty big following a big source code checkout. I'm guessing that Fusion is doing some sort of sync operation that takes a long time. It could be that after it finishes it won't do it again, but I just disabled that feature. I still share my Desktop with no problem.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

KenMAMLLC — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:07:54 GMT

I also am seeing this problem. I have been using Fusion 1.1.3, and really like it, but would like to upgrade to the new version to get some of the new features, especially the printer support for the printers on the Mac. In Fusion, I am running Windows XP Pro with SP3, using 1 CPU and 1GB of RAM on a MacBook Air running Mac OS X 10.5.6. I typically use either single window or full screen mode, not unity mode.

Version 1.1.3 works just fine (as good as Windows works anyway!). I tried switching to version 2.0 when it came out but quickly decided it was not yet ready for prime time. I saw with interest that a version 2.01 had been released, and had great hopes that it would work for me. However, after spending the better part of a day trying to get it to work, I have given up and gone back to version 1.1.3.

The problem I have is this one -- vmwareuser.exe consumes the CPU and everything runs way too slow. This occurs without really running anything. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling vmware tools as was suggested in one comment, but could not get the tools to reinstall successfully. I finally just gave up since I couldn't devote any more time to the issue.

From the looks of the number of "views" on this topic, it looks like it is being experienced by MANY users -- I therefore remain hopeful that VMWare will figure out the problem and fix it in a 2.02 release. Soon would be nice!

Ken

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

neilinnz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:09:13 GMT

Can I just add I'm another user with this very annoying issue.

After using an XP VM for a couple of hours the VMwareUser.exe takes over. I cannot determine anything that triggers it, it seems very random. I don't use drag n drop.

I have completely uninstalled Tools and reinstaleld them and the problem still occurs.

I run a single XP VM, 1gb memory, single core, on a 4gb dual-screen iMac and run the VM in Unity.

Anything else I can try to get rid of this (other than switching to Parallels or VirtualBox).

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

mihaval — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 23:19:20 GMT

I also have this problem (guest is Windows Server 2008). Don't know really what triggered the 100%CPU, but I killed it nad it is OK now. This shouldn't be happening though and I would appreciate a fix for it.

thanks,

Miha.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

coppit — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:36:12 GMT

I'm having the problem with 2.0.1. When in unity mode, I double-click a .msg file on the OS X side, which opens in Outlook in the VM. After a few minutes the VMWareUser.exe process is at 100%. Rebooting the VM is the only fix I've found. (I tried killing and restarting it, but that didn't help.) I'm trying the uninstall/install dance for VMWare tools. Hopefully that will fix it. Otherwise I'll disable the feature to open files in the VM.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:18:43 GMT

Parallels 4 is indeed a big improvement for me. The VPN works. I can use 4 cpus instead of 2. And the Kasparsky Internet Security that is included saved me from having to buy a new Norton. Kasparsky is very nice. The first scan takes forever though because they create a database of hashes so that future scans are much faster.

The other nice feature of Parallels is that you can expand the partition. It was scary (it said it needed 34000+ hours to complete), but it worked in about 3 hours. And the new version actually adds this to the existing partition for you.

And I too always use my Windows in its own Window in one of my OS X Spaces. The only cross-platform functionalities I need are cut-and-paste and file sharing.

Alas, the support from both Parallels and VMWare really stinks. I had originally given up on Parallels and switched to Fusion because Parallels refused to fix the CD support. I was unable to rip CDs using WinAmp (I hate iTunes). But then I ran into thus cpu problem on 2.0 of Fusion which they refuse to fix. So I think we are all forced into using both, alternatively, as the versions improve. It was a bit hard to go back to Parallels because my password had changed, and I had to remember the old one.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topplay — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:30:51 GMT

@JeFurry. Thanks for the suggestion. However I never use unity. I always use Fusion in its own space in single window or full screen mode and still experience the problem.

@Jarome. Thanks for your input. I generally prefer fusion to parallels in almost all aspects. But this issue, being a productivity killer, is surely the cardinal sin of a computer program, and I'm close to jumping ship too.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:25:02 GMT

Which version are you using? Can you upload your tools log file? Thanks

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JeFurry — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:42:09 GMT

I have worked around the problem by switching to fullscreen mode on a separate Space. If I use Unity, it returns. Comparing the logs of the two situations doesn't show any obvious difference, but the performance is massively different. Note that if I'm in Unity and the problem starts, switching back to Fullscreen does not fix it - a full restart of the VM is required. But switching to Unity does not cause the problem immediately - it only starts after a short time which seems to vary. I first thought it was related to the screen saver kicking in, but I'm not sure now. I am using the VM heavily and haven't done any further tests for some time.

Hope this helps you, until VMWare staff can find anything else to try.

-Jef.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

asinglepixel — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:44:28 GMT

I haven't seen this problem since updating to 2.01.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:53:59 GMT

It is a terrible problem. I opened a case, and VMWare said it was indeed a bug. That was 4 versions ago, and it still has not been fixed. I just bought Parallels 4.0.

This sort of support is truly abysmal!

I used to be able to avoid the problem (which is triggered by the Cicso VPN connection for me) by turning off Symantec and SpywareDoctor when I start the VPN. But this stopped working with the released 2.0. I am still using a beta. And the last two updates have made it worse. The VMware tools goes bonkers now.

It would be nice if someone from VMWare would answer this!

SR# 1139197970 (10/10/08)

Based on your Support Request, we tested your problem description in our lab. After detailed analysis, we believe we have identified a 'bug' with the software. We are unable to provide you with an immediate solution at this time and there is no workaround feasible for this current release.The problem has been sent to our product engineering team and they will be working on a fix for the future. Until this bug is fixed, the status of your Support Request will be marked as "Pending/Problem Report". We will follow up with you when a fix is available in an upcoming production release. We will also contact you if we post an experimental build that will help resolve your problem.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topplay — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:58:15 GMT

There has been no posts on this thread for a while. Does that mean it is no longer a problem for most people?

I am currently having problems with cpu loading.

The cpu (as reported by mac activity monitor) is in excess of 100 during start up of the vm and sits in the range 25 to 60 when the vm is idling.

My computer is a Macbook 2.2GhZ Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM
I am running VMWare Fusion Version 2.0.1 (128865)
VMWare tools for Windows Version 7.9.3 Build 128865 is installed.

My VM is split-sparse disk, Windows XP Home SP3 (imported from a bootcamp partition which has since been deleted).
The VM is configured to use 1 virtual processor and 1500MB RAM.

I have uploaded some log files

I would be very grateful for some advice on how to sort this out.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

etung — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:19:58 GMT

The experimental build at Re: Bug hunt: Extremely slow boot times should fix the drag-and-drop trigger, and possibly others.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

asinglepixel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:14:03 GMT

Oddly, this second time, though the VM is slow as molasses, and the Mac side of the house is snappy, the vmwareuser process is not pegging the CPU at all. The System Idle Process is taking almost all the CPU, as normal. But, say, doing a build, devenv.exe is getting at most 2% CPU. Weird.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

asinglepixel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:12:19 GMT

Uncheck "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine"

I do not have this checked, and I'm seeing the problem. 2nd time today after uninstalling and re-installing VMWare tools.

I do have a Mac folder shared, my Home, read-only.

No mirroring enabled, nor either of the 2 checkboxes under Shared Applications.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:16:20 GMT

VMWare acknowledged that this (Cisco VPN + Security suite) is a bug with no known workaround. I was only able to get things to work with the last RC of 2.0. The released version will not work at all for me. I have been complaining about this since April with my free installation support ticket. They ignored the problem. This is not what I consider "good support." I had to buy a support incident to get any action.

So, if this affects you, try RC1 113392 build and turn off the security services before starting the VPN. That works with 2 cpus also.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

asinglepixel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:53:53 GMT

I am seeing this too, vmwareuser process at 100% inside an XP VM. Set to one CPU.

Also running Cisco VPN...

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

velum — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:31:21 GMT

I also had vmwareuser.exe use more than 80 % of the CPU cycles all the time. This was after I loaded the VM after I had suspended it. I decided to close all the applications to see if it was caused by one of them, and the problem went away after I closed MS Word and Outlook. I could not tell which one was causing the problem.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

bgertzfield — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:06:55 GMT

ryankennedy wrote:
I just wanted to chime in and say that unchecking "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine" made all of my VMwareUser CPU problems go away.

Thanks, Ryan.

Can other folks affected by this problem please try these steps, and let us know if it resolves the issue?

1) Go to the menu Virtual Machine -> Settings
2) Click the Sharing icon
3) Uncheck "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine"
4) Restart your virtual machine

Please let us know if this resolves your boot time problem. If it does, could you let us know what software you have installed in Windows?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:48:08 GMT

I have that off all the time. I made a new VM with just the Cisco VPN and the McAfee software, and starting the VPN tunnel pins everything to 2 cpus 100%. Support is looking and stumped.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

ryankennedy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:26:53 GMT

I just wanted to chime in and say that unchecking "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine" made all of my VMwareUser CPU problems go away.

MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz, 4GB RAM, Fusion 2.0, OS X 10.5.5, Windows SP3 VM

Thanks.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

jarome — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:38:18 GMT

I see this without drag and drop. It made 2.0 unusable for me. The final beta usually works however.

This is triggered by the Cisco VPN for me. With 2.0, the VMWare tools goes to 100% cpu usage after the connection is made. Also, Norton Internet Security 2008 and PC Tools Spyware Doctor always peg to 100% cpu if I do not disable them before connecting the VPN. Something is very rotten here.

I have a dual quad MacPro with 8 GB memory.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Matt Stevens — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:55:23 GMT

topgunli wrote:
Actually there is a workaround. If you got into this bad case again, just drag a file into the VM and stay inside for a while, and drag out again. This will reset our DnD status and kill the DnD thread. Let me know if the workaround works or not. This will help me to know if it is the cause of the bad situation.

Seems like you found the source of the problem, after getting into the high CPU state I dragged another file over the guest OS and CPU use returned to normal. Glad you were able to track it down!

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JefferyRPrice — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:34:00 GMT

Just wanted to chime in. Running XP SP3 on MacBook Pro (10.5.5, 4GB RAM, 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo) with 1.5GB assigned to VM. I saw this problem continually. I have actually rolled back to a snapshot I took just before upgrading and reverted back to Fusion 1.1.3.

An interesting note though while I was still using 2.0... I tried the uninstall/reinstall of the tools. After uninstall, Windows of course rebooted. After this reboot, the VM window shows what appears to be only the top right corner of a much larger screen that the VM thinks I have. I am able to log in, but after that I have no visible/accessible Windows task bar. Installing the tools is quite problematic because the dialog boxes that appear (well, I assume they appear) for the install are in another area of the virtual screen that I cannot see or access. After trying this several times (revert to snapshot, upgrade VM to 2.0, uninstall tools, failed tools install), I gave up and went back to 1.1.3. Much more robust for me now, certainly not as snappy with moving large windows in Unity, but small price to pay for actual usability.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:05:31 GMT

mudaltsov wrote:
Could you try to uncheck "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine" in the VM's Sharing settings and see if it helps the VMwareUser CPU usage?

I've unchecked it and it seems to have reduced the number of "VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB failed", "Schema path not found", and "toolbox-dnd timed out" entries from the log. I still get 4 "VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB failed" when going into Unity (none at startup). I also get a few Schema path not found", when I drag emails between Outlook windows (in Unity). But generally my log is certainly much cleaner.

mudaltsov wrote:
Looking at your log files, I'm more concerned about log messages such as "Command WRITE(10) took 1.183 seconds (ok)" and "Command READ(10) took 1.178 seconds (ok)".

I am still getting these. Note I am keeping my Outlook PST files on the host side and accessing them through the Shared Folder mapping. These files are huge (1G) and Outlook hops around in them a lot (but obviously doesn't read the whole file into memory).

Thanks for keep my hopes alive ....
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

mudaltsov — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:30:08 GMT

Could you try to uncheck "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine" in the VM's Sharing settings and see if it helps the VMwareUser CPU usage?

If it's checked, Fusion will re-publish proxy applications for all guest apps when Tools are started, which might contribute to the CPU load in the guest. It's also the reason for the "VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB" errors, although they are harmless. Basically some applications don't have any file type or URL associations, so the call to get them fails, and the error is logged.

Looking at your log files, I'm more concerned about log messages such as "Command WRITE(10) took 1.183 seconds (ok)" and "Command READ(10) took 1.178 seconds (ok)". These mean that writing and reading from the virtual disk is delayed because of some OS X kernel file system locking issues. Basically the VM tries to read or write to the virtual disk, but OS X is blocking it from doing so, which will basically hang the VM for short periods of time, which would appear as slow performance. We are looking into these issues and working on a fix with Apple.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:20:33 GMT

topgunli wrote:
How long it will take to save the file to virtual disk? Also looks like your setup is not very powerful. Can you provide more information about your setup? Mac Pro or Mac Book? How big is memory? Also what is your guest OS? XP?

Virtual disk save is very quick and no CPU bump.

I don't think my system is that weak. I don't see these delays in Parallels for example (though I see other issues). Here are the stats:

Host:
MacBook Pro
2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB RAM
Mac OSX 10.5.5

Guest:
Windows XP Pro SP3
1GB RAM

Thanks,
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:07:44 GMT

Thanks for the log. It is very helpful. Now we are investigating, and will keep you updated.
Your efforts and time are highly appreciated.

Thanks, here are the guest logs zipped with the other logs. I hadn't realized this was a different log (the guest log) or I would have included it sooner.
Thanks,
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:05:39 GMT

reesd27 wrote:
Another issue I am seeing is that saving a 200K file to a shared folder can take several seconds. During that time the CPU of the process I am saving from (e.g. notepad.exe) spikes to 100%. Its happening across a variety of applications - notepad, wordpad, natura bonsai, so it seems to be file system related.
Thanks,
dave

How long it will take to save the file to virtual disk? Also looks like your setup is not very powerful. Can you provide more information about your setup? Mac Pro or Mac Book? How big is memory? Also what is your guest OS? XP?

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:23:28 GMT

Another issue I am seeing is that saving a 200K file to a shared folder can take several seconds. During that time the CPU of the process I am saving from (e.g. notepad.exe) spikes to 100%. Its happening across a variety of applications - notepad, wordpad, natura bonsai, so it seems to be file system related.
Thanks,
dave

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:18:58 GMT

topgunli wrote:

Thanks for all the information. I guess maybe VMwareUser inside the guest un-registered all callbacks. Can you follow the instruction to collect guest log?

Thanks, here are the guest logs zipped with the other logs. I hadn't realized this was a different log (the guest log) or I would have included it sooner.
Thanks,
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:21:45 GMT

Thanks for all the information. I guess maybe VMwareUser inside the guest un-registered all callbacks. Can you follow the instruction to collect guest log?

Copied from arolett's comment:

To do that go to:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools, Then open the tools.conf file.

Add two entries:
log = "TRUE"
log.file = "C:\vmtools.log"

Then log out and log back in to your VM Wait for vmwareuser.exe to start using 100% of your cpu and upload the resulting log
files. There should be one at c:\vmtools.log and possibly more than one
at c:\vmtools.log.<process id> where process id is just a number.

Once you are done, make sure to turn off logging by removing the two entries because they can take up a lot of space over time.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:51:24 GMT

To help isolate the problem I created a new image from scratch using default settings. It seems to have similar issues making me think the issue is at the host level rather than the guest level. I've attached its logs as well. Generally I continue to see errors like the following in the log:

Sep 29 11:41:31.884: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB: failed: ret = VMDB failure
Sep 29 11:41:31.885: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB: failed: ret = VMDB failure
Sep 29 11:41:31.946: vcpu-0| TOOLS call to unity.get.binary.handlers failed.

Thanks,
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:13:42 GMT

Actually, I am not sure I am seeing the exact same problem, though it may be related. To recap what I am seeing:

Every few hours in Unity (and less often when not in Unity) windows within the guest become non-responsive. This is coupled with a bunch of messages in the log like the following:

Sep 29 08:54:10.854: vcpu-0| TOOLS call to unity.get.binary.handlers failed.
Sep 29 08:54:10.854: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB: failed: ret = VMDB failure
Sep 29 08:54:10.854: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB: failed: ret = VMDB failure
Sep 29 08:54:22.697: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 08:54:55.863: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 08:54:59.025: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 08:55:54.430: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 08:55:57.313: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 08:56:02.575: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 29 08:56:05.451: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
...
Sep 29 09:00:01.455: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 29 09:00:08.993: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 29 09:00:13.556: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 29 09:00:20.319: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 09:00:24.120: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 29 09:00:28.490: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 29 09:00:28.555: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 29 09:00:29.043: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.

I am also seeing this when the guest starts up in the vmware-vmfusion.log:

Sep 29 09:28:16.061: vmfusion| Failed to get guest app info: VMDB failure
Sep 29 09:28:37.373: vmfusion| Failed to get guest app info: VMDB failure
Sep 29 09:29:24.317: vmfusion| Failed to get guest app info: VMDB failure

The vmwareuser.exe sometimes spikes, but not always to 100%. Though its hard to say because really the whole guest becomes non-responsive for a bit and then catches up.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling tools with no improvement. It may be worth noting that even with tools uninstalled I still get the "vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out." lines in he vmware.log.
As I mentioned above this is a parallels import, so it may have something to do with the import.

I've attached my latest vmx and logs. Hopefully we can find a fix for this because when this isn't happening I am enjoying vmware's responsiveness and the dual-monitor support, but if we don't get it figured out before my trial expires I will have to go back to parallels since I am not having these lockup problems with it.

Thanks,
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JeFurry — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:33:06 GMT

topgunli wrote:

Actually there is a workaround. If you got into this bad case again, just drag a file into the VM and stay inside for a while, and drag out again. This will reset our DnD status and kill the DnD thread. Let me know if the workaround works or not. This will help me to know if it is the cause of the bad situation.

In my case, the DnD procedure above made things much worse. The (supposedly idling) VM was taking 138% of a core on the host's CPU (a 2-CPU VM on an 8-core Mac Pro), so I dragged an icon on to the VM's Explorer window, waited a few seconds, then dragged it out again. I hoped that the CPU usage would drop back to the normal ~7%, but instead it went up to 204%. The dragged icon left a ghost image which didn't clear for several minutes, and a shutdown of the VM took over 15 minutes.

I tried the same procedure, this time waiting longer before dragging out the file (which was a PNG image, ~2.4MB, and I did not actually drop it in the VM, just dragged it over and back out) and the same thing happened.

If this is making it worse, it suggests that although this is a problem, there is another one...

-Jef.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:48:15 GMT

I am seeing this problem at drag and drop, but also when the guest starts. I am hoping its part of the same problem so I am looking forward to the fix. I'll add the Mac seems to sometimes treat whole window moves as "drags" so maybe its happening during some window moving/resizing (vs. dragging from inside a window).

Is it possible to just turn drag and drop off for now?

Thanks,

d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

topgunli — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:04:28 GMT

Thanks very much for your feedback and dump files. Now I can reproduce the bug. What happened is that when you drag something into guest, we will start a DnD thread in guest, but it may take time. And when you drag it out, we will cancel the DnD. But if you drag out right after drag in, guest DnD thread may be not up yet, so will miss the cancel signal. And unfortunately, DnD thread is very expensive. Actually there is a workaround. If you got into this bad case again, just drag a file into the VM and stay inside for a while, and drag out again. This will reset our DnD status and kill the DnD thread. Let me know if the workaround works or not. This will help me to know if it is the cause of the bad situation.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

awk — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:01:13 GMT

Thanks very much for the dump Matt, I've grabbed it and we'll start looking it over and see what it reveals.

Andrew 8-)

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Matt Stevens — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:22:46 GMT

Andrew,

I'm still not exactly sure what triggered the problem, but here are the events leading up to the current state:

1. VM window was not in focus.
2. Dragged & dropped a file from Finder to another Mac application, it passed over a portion of the background VM window in the process, which did start acting on it.
3. Brought the VM window into focus a few minutes later.
4. Connected VPN client and launched Outlook.

This was the point where I noticed the CPU spike. Based on this and R1ch's experience it does seem to indicate a drag & drop issue. Here's the dump file:

http://codeworkshop.net/files/vmwareuser.zip

Matt

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

R1ch — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:57:48 GMT

Drag and drop was the culprit for my 100% vmwareuser.exe.

Someone else mentioned it - so I should add that a share had be recreated during the upgrade.

I deleted it as well as doing the reinstall.

may not be significant but might help...

R1ch

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

awk — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:30:12 GMT

Matt,

The stack trace 'appears' (though this can sometimes be misleading) to point to the drag and drop code - had you recently performed a drag-n-drop operation ? Could you also do a '.dump ma <file>' and let us know how big the resultant dump is and then we can work out the most efficient way to get it to us ?

Thanks very much for your help.

Andrew 8-)

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Matt Stevens — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:17:01 GMT

Ok, it just happened again here and I attached WinDbg to the process to look up the call stack for the thread eating up the CPU.

0:009> !runaway
User Mode Time
Thread Time
8:ce4 0 days 0:05:25.908
0:114 0 days 0:00:04.726
4:a18 0 days 0:00:00.010
9:c58 0 days 0:00:00.000
7:c00 0 days 0:00:00.000
6:4ac 0 days 0:00:00.000
5:79c 0 days 0:00:00.000
3:394 0 days 0:00:00.000
2:168 0 days 0:00:00.000
1:164 0 days 0:00:00.000

0:008> kb
ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
0212fd30 7e4193e9 7e4193a8 0212fdb0 00000000 ntdll!KiFastSystemCallRet
0212fd5c 7e419402 0212fdb0 00000000 00000200 USER32!NtUserPeekMessage+0xc
0212fd88 775d06f6 0212fdb0 00000000 00000200 USER32!PeekMessageW+0xbc
0212fdcc 775d0be4 00e0b8f0 00d24200 00000003 ole32!CDragOperation::CDragOperation+0xfe
0212fe34 0040c07d 00e0b8f0 00d24200 00000003 ole32!DoDragDrop+0x77
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong.
0212ff6c 0040c22b 0212ffac 781329bb 00d1f978 VMwareUser+0xc07d
0212ff74 781329bb 00d1f978 f76278a5 00000000 VMwareUser+0xc22b
0212ffac 78132a47 00164098 7c80b713 00de01c0 MSVCR80!endthreadex+0x3b
0212ffec 00000000 781329e1 00de01c0 00000000 MSVCR80!endthreadex+0xc7

Since I've got the process in the problem state I'll leave the debugger attached at a breakpoint for a couple days in case you want me to run this again with symbols or pull any other information.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

reesd27 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:49:46 GMT

I have been seeing this same problem. Unfortunately remove/install of tools didn't seem to fix it.

It happens around drag and drop. I also have seen it when launching an URL from inside the guest to Firefox in the host. I also have seen it when I am just working in Firefox in the host, so no direct guest usage that I know of.

I am also a Parallels Desktop import, so perhaps there are is some common importer problem we are seeing.

It is usually accompanied with a lot of disk access and with the following lines over and over again in the log:

Sep 24 14:26:50.256: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB: failed: ret = VMDB failure
Sep 24 14:26:50.257: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB: failed: ret = VMDB failure
Sep 24 14:26:50.256: vcpu-0| TOOLS call to unity.get.binary.handlers failed.

I also am seeing this line a fair amount:

Sep 24 15:15:48.816: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found

I just tried removing and reinstalling vmware tools. Unfortunately it didn't seem to solve the problem. When I start the guest I see hundreds of the "VMXVmdbGuestBinaryHandlersCB failed" lines in the log. Also, after an hour or so of use I ran into this issue again starting with these log entries

Sep 24 15:40:26.818: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 24 15:40:27.502: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 24 15:40:38.996: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 24 15:40:39.097: vmx| GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
Sep 24 15:40:39.098: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 24 15:40:39.161: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 24 15:40:39.225: vmx| VMXVmdbCbUnityCmd: failed: ret = Schema path not found
Sep 24 15:40:47.144: vcpu-0| VMXVmdbGuestBinaryInfoCB: Could not get name

As a final note, initially (after initial import and before my remove/install of vmware tools) my menu choice was "Install VMware Tools" rather than "Update VMWare Tools", which makes me think the importer did miss something. After remove/install my menu option is now "update vmware tools".

My logs are attached.

Thanks,
d

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

R1ch — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:58:11 GMT

All

I had this problem too - I think it's been resolved by following arolett's recommendation to reinstall.

I had originally selected the upgrade option with VM Fuse - which I suspect is where it went wrong.

- Select "update VM Tools" from the virtual machine menu and ran the install to get to the uninstall option.
- reboot
- install using typical settings
- reboot

so far everything's working again incl. drag & drop, which was the instigator of the 100% CPU problem.

R1ch

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

sullyfoos — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:42:37 GMT

i have two VM's with basically the same build, one has the problem the other doesn't.

besides CPU the only other difference was a serial port that was in the system that had the problem. it was a port created for a printer, which i don't need. i deleted the serial port, maybe that was the issue not the multi-cpu. i'll turn dual cpu on again and let you know what happens.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Matt Stevens — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:59:29 GMT

sullyfoos wrote:
i have found that setting the processor to 1 CPU seems to eliminate the problem.

Unfortunately the VM I'm seeing this on only has 1 CPU, so I don't think the problem is limited to multiple virtual CPUs.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

sullyfoos — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:53:33 GMT

same problem here, new macpro current os, winxp guest xp3, all updated tools.

i have found that setting the processor to 1 CPU seems to eliminate the problem.

kind of a crummy fix, but i've tried lots of combinations and that is the one that appears to work.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

JeFurry — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:41:34 GMT

I'm getting this problem too, on a new Mac Pro.

I don't need to switch screen mode at all, I use Unity all the time, though of course the machine does boot in windowed mode at first. I then launch Lotus Notes (which could be significant, as there was a previous problem with it) and that's all I use in the VM all day. Even if I don't actually use the VM at all, and leave it idling, after a time (sometimes as low as 15 minutes, usually 2-3 hours, sometimes longer, and apparently not affected by putting the mac to sleep overnight) VMWare CPU usage goes sky high, and does not recover until the VM is rebooted. Right now, VMWareUser.exe usage from within the VM (which should be idling) says ~30% (System Idle Process is at ~65%, the remaining ~5% is background stuff), whereas the vmware-vmx process on the Mac registers ~160% (it's a two-core VM, therefore flat out would be 200%). If I kill and relaunch VMWareUser.exe within the VM, responsiveness and CPU usage in both VM and Mac drops back to normal (a few percent) for a short time, but the problem returns within a few minutes. The VM is not entirely unresponsive during the problem, but is noticeably slow. It does not appear to relate to screensavers, system sleep, or power saving. I can't see any obvious trigger

1. What guest os are you running (Windows XP / Vista?) What service pack?

XPSP3, installed under Fusion 2.0 beta 2 from a slipstreamed disc.

2. How long is the VM usually running before you notice the problem? Does it happen in 5 minutes / an hour / after you leave it running overnight? Is there anything that makes this more or less likely to happen?

Highly variable, usually longer after a restart, but only a few minutes to an hour or so if I kill VMWareUser.exe and restart it. I haven't been able to tie it down to any known trigger.

3. If you have access to another Windows VM, does it happen with the same frequency on that VM as well?

I have 3 VMs currently.
A: a fairly clean XPSP3 VM set up originally on Fusion 2.0 beta 1 and updated ever since. It has only Office 2007 and Lotus Notes installed, and VMWare Tools are up to date. This has the CPU load problem every day.
B: an almost unused XPSP3 VM set up under VMWare 1.1.3 and upgraded, with various software installed, which is cloned to new machines I set up and then updated to suit (with a new SID). This does not have any known problems, which is why I use it as a basis for others.
C: A conversion of my old Vista PC. This is used only in case I need some registration-sensitive software that I no longer have a code for, and as such I haven't used it enough to know if it has any problems or not under 2.0 final, though it had the same problem under beta 2.

4. What version of tools are you running? You can get this by going to the VMware System tray in the guest os and then going to the about tab.

All XP versions are build 116369. I haven't loaded the Vista VM recently, and it could well be outdated.

I can upload a VMWare Tools log, but there is nothing obviously different after the problem compared to before it happened, and no clear indication of anything changing when it starts.

-Jef.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Matt Stevens — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:21:05 GMT

arolett wrote:
1. What guest os are you running (Windows XP / Vista?) What service pack?

Windows XP SP3. In case this is significant, this is an imported Parallels VM (Parallels Tools uninstalled before import). I also replaced the virtual IDE disk created during import with a virtual SCSI disk using Acronis.

2. You say you are seeing this pretty frequently. How long is the VM usually running before you notice the problem? Does it happen in 5 minutes / an hour / after you leave it running overnight? Is there anything that makes this more or less likely to happen?

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a reproducible scenario yet. Each time I've noticed the issue it was after working in the VM for a while and then switching away to another application - in looking back at the VM's window later I'd notice that the CPU was pegged in task manager. I haven't seen the issue from just having the VM up for some period of time. I'm paying more attention to what I'm doing now to try and narrow it down. When I'd seen the issue previously I'd been using mostly Visual Studio, Outlook, Google Chrome, and a proprietary VPN client.

3. If you have access to another Windows VM, does it happen with the same frequency on that VM as well?

I've been using other Vista and XP VMs on the same machine and haven't noticed the issue there yet, but these are also pretty vanilla installs used for software testing.

4. What version of tools are you running? You can get this by going to the VMware System tray in the guest os and then going to the about tab.

Version e.x.p, build-116369

Thanks in advance.

No problem! I'll try to provide some more useful information if I can narrow it down.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

matthewls — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:30:53 GMT

A guess: vmwareuser.exe goes nuts when switching repeatedly between display modes (e.g. unity and windowed).

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

arolett — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:14:39 GMT

Thanks for uploading the logs. Unfortunately I don't see anything unusual in the logs. To get this figure out, we need to figure out how to reproduce this here.

Can you provide some more details.

1. What guest os are you running (Windows XP / Vista?) What service pack?

3. If you have access to another Windows VM, does it happen with the same frequency on that VM as well?

4. What version of tools are you running? You can get this by going to the VMware System tray in the guest os and then going to the about tab.

Thanks in advance.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

Matt Stevens — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:26:49 GMT

I'm seeing this pretty frequently too, VMwareUser.exe's usage goes to 100% and appears to never recover. Log files attached.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

arolett — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:15:45 GMT

rjtolman,

It sounds like the tools update did not go through correctly. The first thing to try would be to:

1. Uninstall tools completely

2. Reboot the VM.

3. Reinstall tools

4. Reboot teh VM and make sure you are running the new verison.

The Application Data folder is hidden in explorer typically. You can copy and paste the whole path into the explorer bar to get there.

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

rjtolman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:44:14 GMT

I have a similar problem. Mine jumps to 100% upon startup of the VM.
OSX 10.5.5; All windows updates done. Takes forever to get to the desktop.

The file you suggest:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools

Doesn't exist on my vm. In face the Application Data folder does not exist.

VMware tools has been installed and updated. VMware tools has been removed using VMware tools; using Add and Remove.
Have update VMware tools; stays at version Version e.x.p, build-107508.

VM ware is still telling me to update Tools from the Vm ware drop down menu.

Almost impossible to do anything on in VM.

Any suggestions?

I will be back tonight.

I have a machine at Work that has a VM on it. Updated to Version 2. No apparent problems.

I will copy that vm and bring it home tonight and see what I can see.

I will check back later this morning and see. I am in the Mountain Time zone.

Anything else I can try.

I just noticed that the CP Usage dropped down to less than 10%.

The second I started another update to Tools it jumped to 98%.

dropped down after install; using modify. Tools now says I need to update tools.

Have installed boot camp drivers from 10.5 install disk.

Still stuck at 100%

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

juliangall — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:38:51 GMT

OK. I've turned on logging.

Tools version is e.x.p build 116369

I've also made a couple of other changes to my system which may, I suppose, have fixed the problem. They are:

1. Upgrade to SP3

2. I had some drives mapped in the VM under Fusion 1. The shares were not connected by default when I upgraded to 2.0 and I was getting a message something like: "host is not connected, you may continue to work in disconnected mode". This was in a tray popup from time to time. I had not bothered to do anything about it as I am using mirroring now under 2.0. Since the CPU problem though, I have disconnected these mapped drives.

I'll let you know what happens.

Julian

Re: vmwareuser.exe cpu 100%

arolett — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:54:28 GMT

Also, can you confirm the version of tools you are running?

You can do that by clicking on the vmware tray icon and then going to the about tab in the Windows XP guest. The version should be listed in the about tab.